Planned Parenthood differs from abortion

If 3 percent of McDonalds' business was serving ice cream, I have a feeling no one would refer to it as an ice cream joint. They likely would be associated with what they spent most of their time making, like burgers or chicken nuggets.

Although abortions account for only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's services, it still has been deemed an abortion business by a number of news reporters and political pundits. There is a certain amount of spin involved with every political issue, but since funding cuts have been discussed about Planned Parenthoods across the country, there seems no end to the strange barrage of falsified information surrounding the organization.

For instance, Bill O'Reilly said on the April 7 airing of his program, "Nobody's life is affected by Planned Parenthood." Since no one shuts O'Reilly down in the middle of his show or argues statements like this, his argument that the organization is worthless flowed into millions of people's homes like the smell of garbage through an open window.

I suppose the one in five women who have visited Planned Parenthood, the annual 5 million people who receive education or reproductive health care from Planned Parenthood and the 4 million people who received treatment or testing for sexually transmitted infections, constitutes "nobody."  These are the national statistics of how many people Planned Parenthood affects each year, according to plannedparenthood.org.

Additionally, on April 9, "Fox and Friends" discussed Planned Parenthood's services ­— blood pressure tests, breast exams and pap smears — saying Planned Parenthood was useless because women can get those exact same tests performed at Walgreens.  I'm here to tell you, if someone tries to give you a breast or pelvic exam at Walgreens, run away and call the authorities.

Even more disgusting than this is Senator Jon Kyl's proclamation on the Senate floor April 8.  Kyl said, "If you want an abortion, go to Planned Parenthood, and that's well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does." Well, he was close … 3 percent, 90 percent — what's the difference? His publicity staff responded to criticism with a statement saying it was not intended to be factual.

I understand people might have misconceptions about what a company does or how services within organizations break down, but Planned Parenthood has a clear pie chart on their website depicting what services they offer. Either the people spreading these lies aren't smart enough to read a pie chart or they're too concerned with an underlying political agenda to think that intending to tell the truth is relevant.

Far outweighing the abortion services that have been the center of attention, 31 percent of Planned Parenthood's services are consumed by screening for and treating STI's, 36 percent are made up of contraception and 17 percent are geared toward the prevention of and testing for cancer, according to their website. Maybe if people had this information, they wouldn't be so quick to believe people like Bill O'Reilly and Fox and Friends who think this organization is unnecessary. If these people really were concerned with preventing women from having abortions, they should be supportive of the thing that prevents what causes abortion in the first place — unexpected pregnancy. Wait, isn't that what Planned Parenthood does? Only 82 percent of their clients received contraceptive services, and that is intended to be a factual statement.

Maybe if we were more concerned with the underlying principles Planned Parenthood is based on than with the media's representation of this organization, Kirksville might not have gotten rid of Planned Parenthood. It's a shame that any college town should go without such a helpful asset to its community's women.

If nothing else, these publicized lies should remind us to check our facts, even if senators and reporters might think it's not worth their time. Otherwise, we risk losing the things that are geared toward keeping the citizens of this country safe and healthy.

Anna Meier is a senior English major from Kansas City, Mo.